


Never Bitten, Never Shy

by misura



Category: Book of the Isle – Nancy Springer
Genre: Dubious Consent, M/M, Sex Pollen, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-13 01:12:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16882791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Frain gets sex pollened. Dair gets confused.





	Never Bitten, Never Shy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Serenade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serenade/gifts).



The air had grown thick with pollens, to a point where even in humanshape, Dair's nose picked up the scents, which were of all kinds: sweet and heavy, and sweet and light. Some smells seemed to invite him to drowsiness, while others beckoned towards running, or dancing, or some other energetic behavior. It was not at all unpleasant, to walk through a place like this: certainly better than the dry desert, and perhaps almost as enjoyable as a forest where one need not worry about bandits or slavers.

Maeve had left them, claiming women's business, promising a return in one or two weeks.

Dair did not begrudge her the time, nor did he allow the prospect of losing the ability to converse with Frain as men did to worry him overmuch. That she would be safe, he did not doubt any more than that she would return.

"Dair," said Frain, his voice strangely strained.

Dair's nose picked up nothing to account for any tension. There were only the pollens. He whined, hoping Frain would understand that Dair would be happy to help or do anything Frain wished, if only Frain would tell him what it was.

Frain seemed to understand. He smiled at Dair as humans did, showing no teeth. "Do you know, you are very beautiful."

In wolfshape, Dair might have thumped his tail as dogs did, to indicate pleasure. He might have howled, the wild and joyful kind of howl wolves howled to celebrate life.

As a human, the only thing he could think of doing was to smile back, and Frain had told him that he must not, until he had become better at it. Dair whined, softly, hoping Frain would not misunderstand and think that it was Frain's praise Dair was lamenting, rather than his own inability to express the joy it brought him to hear it.

Frain sighed and held out his hand. Dair approached, a bit puzzled.

"Very beautiful," Frain repeated, his tone almost dreamy, as it had been when Dair had found him sleepwalking, but far happier. That Frain had been angry and violent, bitter and vicious. This Frain only seemed to want to touch Dair's face, his arms, his chest, and then to nuzzle where his hands had been.

Dair wished he knew how to respond. His human body seemed to have some idea, yet he knew very well how clumsy and inconvenient it could be. In humanshape, he knew that he could not trust his body at all: it was forever asking for food and rest, where he could make do perfectly well without.

Frain sighed again. "Dair. Stop me."

Frain's hands were near Dair's stomach now, his lips near Dair's throat. Dair tried to make sense of Frain's words. They should have been clear, he felt. There was nothing mysterious or vague about them, and yet Dair could not understand what was happening, or why Frain would tell Dair to do something Frain could surely do himself.

Even so, Dair supposed there could be no harm in doing as Frain had asked. He growled a little, as he might have in wolfshape, with someone unfamiliar getting too close, and then he used his human legs and arms as best he could to bring Frain to ground.

What would have felt natural and graceful in wolfshape felt clumsy in humanshape. Nevertheless, Dair succeeded in putting Frain down into the grass, Dair on top of him, pinning him in place, stopped.

Frain groaned. "Dair. You idiot."

Dair wanted to howl with frustration. Mere moments ago, Frain had called him beautiful and seemed to desire nothing more than to pet him as once the children of the palace had, and now, suddenly, this.

It could not be Frain's fault, of course. Therefore, it had to be a human thing, something he might have understood, if only Maeve had been here to explain it to him.

Frain tried to get up. Dair, true to Frain's instruction, tried his best to prevent him, though he still felt confused. He might have taken wolfshape, except that it would not help: he still would not understand why Frain would wish for Dair to stop him, or had called him an idiot when he had done so.

"Dair." Frain moaned a bit, as if in pain. "Dair! I would die before I hurt you."

This was certainly much more pleasing to hear, Dair decided, relaxing a little. He whuffed by way of saying that he, too, would never do anything whatsoever to hurt Frain.

Frain shook his head, then groaned again. "It must be the flowers. Though why they should affect me and not you - perhaps it is because you are a wolf and I merely a man, and not much of one at that. Only look at me, brought low like the meanest beast."

Dair tried to lick Frain's face. In wolfshape, he would have felt a bit silly doing so, when Frain was not at all younger than he was, to be mothered and comforted. In humanshape, he felt that it would have to do, and besides, there was nothing else that he could think of doing.

To hear Frain speak ill of him had been unpleasant; to hear Frain now speak ill of himself, when he was so brave and beautiful and all-around wonderful was a hundred times worse, the moreso since Dair could see no reason for Frain to do so.

Frain moved his head, so that Dair's mouth met his own. Dair realized that they were kissing, or nearly so, and that he found it as pleasant as his humanshape felt it was pleasant to be this close to Frain's body, to feel as if he held power over Frain and might please him and be pleased by Frain's body in return; to touch and taste Frain and be touched and tasted by Frain also.

None of these desires were new, and yet at the same time, all of them were ones Dair could not remember ever experiencing. He decided that he must have felt them before, but separately, and less, given that Frain had never once seemed to reciprocate.

"Dair. Listen to me," said Frain. "We must leave this place. You must not let me harm you."

Dair did not see what one of them had to do with the other. Still, it was clear to him that Frain was distressed, so he tried as best as he might to get his body to move off of Frain, so that they might continue their journey. They had caught sight of a forest earlier that morning; it would only be a matter of hours to reach it, and then Frain would calm down and feel better.

His stupid human body, alas, seemed to be of no mind to obey him.

Frain growled, sounding nothing at all like a wolf. Even so, Dair felt the sound affect him as deeply as if he were in wolfshape and Frain likewise, and they were pack in body as well as in mind and heart and soul. It was a powerful thing, Frain's growl, and a strange one.

Dair whined, desperate and wanting, yet not at all knowing what it was that he wanted, only that he wanted it now, or soon, and from Frain.

Frain kissed him again. Dair tried kissing him back, this time, even if he knew that his inexperience must surely show, knew that Frain must notice his clumsiness and only refrained from pointing it out from kindness and generosity.

"Dair," said Frain. "Dair!"

 _I am here,_ said Dair, forgetting for a moment that Frain could not understand. _I will not let you hurt me, though I do not at all believe that you ever would. Only tell me what I can do to stop feeling the way I do, as if there is something wonderful I could have if only I knew how to reach or ask for it._

Frain could not have understood, and yet somehow, it seemed to Dair that he had. His reply came in actions, rather than words; in showing, rather than telling, and Frain decided that Maeve was very right in comparing speech to blacksmithing: he could not imagine hearing Frain describe to him what he wished to do and feel anything but confusion and yet as Frain did do them, Dair understood and did to Frain as Frain did to him, giving as much pleasure as he received, which must surely be a good and great thing.


End file.
